Contract serviceman from Volgograd Region convicted of evading service

The court has sentenced Roman Semak, a military contractor from the Volgograd Region, to 2.5 years and six months in custody, finding him guilty of evading service.

According to investigators, on October 15, 2022, Roman failed to appear at his military unit. He returned there on February 6, 2023, and explained his absence by difficult life circumstances and a divorce from his wife, the "Kavkaz.Realii"* project has reported.

The "Caucasian Knot" has also reported that September 28, 2022, Sergey S., a resident of Znamensk, was drafted into the army within the mobilization. He repeatedly avoided being sent to the special military operation (SMO) zone, declaring the illegality of conscription without examination by a military medical commission.

This March he filed a lawsuit in the Volgograd Garrison Military Court; in July, by a court ruling, he was sent to a hospital for examination, where he received category "D" – not fit for military service. Then he filed a claim for compensation of 10 million roubles for his suffered moral harm. Meanwhile, his military unit in Volgograd refused to dismiss him, despite his unfitness for military service documented by the commission and the court.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.